For months, the speculation has been that Fordís CEO is the leading candidate to replace Steve Ballmer at Microsoft, with an announcement due possibly by the end of this month. But that plan seemed to be quashed last week after board member Edsel Ford II said Mulally was staying through the automaker until the end of 2014. ďFordís directors havenít pressed Mulally, 68, to make a public statement to clarify that he plans to stay with the automaker because heís made his intentions clear to the companyís board, Edsel Ford told Bloomberg News.Ē